Biggest loser

Luis of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group linked to this column about weight loss that was recently published in The Washington Post. Michael S. Rosenwald, the author of the piece called "Economy of the Scale," talks about the economic incentives to lose weight.
Of course, there is more and more buzz about insurance companies that provide incentives for plan members to lose weight. Here is what Rosenwald says about one company engaged in that tactic:

Tangerine, based in Boston, designs weight-loss programs that employ economic incentives. The company is modeled on recent economic research showing that paying people to lose weight causes their pounds to fall off faster. Eric Finkelstein, an economist with RTI International who has spoken with Tangerine executives, recently conducted a study in which people were paid either $7 or $14 per percentage point of body weight they lost.
After three months, people with no incentives lost about two pounds. The $7 group lost about three pounds. The $14 group: five pounds. Members of the more expensive group were also five times more likely than members of the no-money group to lose 5 percent of their body weight. One person netted $140. Were they more excited about losing weight or about the money? "I think they were most excited by the $140," Finkelstein said.

Now there is a Web site called stickK.com, Rosenwald writes, that will compel individuals to make a contract with themselves to pay money to a charity, friend or family if they don't lose weight. That's pretty fascinating too, and the Web site is expected to go live sometime in December. Not discussed is an economic inventive plan that would involve consumption of fruits and vegetables; why couldn't a brand marketer of produce reward consumers for every ten PLU stickers submitted, for example?

My own economies of scale must somehow involve propping up my own flimsy willpower. For me, I may have to pay Sherri, our administrative assistant at The Packer, to stop her thoughtful gestures to fellow co-workers. Without fail, Sherri brings in miniature peanut butter cups, mini Twix bars, mini Hershey Krackle, Mr. Goodbar and Hershey's milk chocolates daily to restock her candy jar. Her candy jar runneth over, except for the fact I'm taking from it everyday. With free Twix and Mr. Goodbar the economies of scale are tilted against me.